Switching Sides
by andrea16465
Summary: When Voldemort offers Ginerva a position of power in his army, she accepts. While everyone underestimated her, she quietly gained her power. How will she keep the secret that she has switched sides?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! It's been a while, but I'm finally back! I started this story a while ago, but I've decided to revise and repost. This is a much better version than the original. I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, therefore I do not own the Harry Potter series (although wouldn't it be cool if I did? I could play with the characters whenever I wanted). Sigh…where was I? Oh yeah…not making any money off of this.**

"Well? What do you think?" a cold, distant voice asked. The owner of the voice was clearly looking for a response. Most people in the wizarding world had never heard this voice, but the ones who had knew to fear it. Its owner was the most vile, heartless killer the world had ever seen. His name was Lord Voldemort. His followers called him the Dark Lord; his mother had called him Tom Riddle the day he was born. When he spoke, people cowered in fear.

Draco Malfoy opened his eyes slowly, adjusting to the brightness of the room. The last thing he remembered was lying down in his own bed to get a few hours of much needed sleep. He shook his head. It did not matter where he went to sleep. It only mattered where he woke up. He looked around carefully, recognizing almost at once where he was—a rarely used room in the west wing of his childhood home, Malfoy Manor. He was in an upright position, but he was not standing on the ground—he was being levitated. It was not uncomfortable, except for the cruel voice that seemed to overwhelm his senses.

"Satisfactory," another voice answered. This time, the voice was female. It was familiar, but not familiar enough for Draco to have recognized it without a good look at the woman who used it. When he actually did take a look, he was shocked by what he found. Ginerva Weasely. Ginny Weasely. The youngest member of the Weasely clan and friend of Harry Potter. The Weaselette was here in the Dark Lord's hideaway. The place that Draco used to call home before the Death Eaters had made it their headquarters.

"Which ones?" The snake-like voice asked. Draco was confused. What was he talking about? Which ones what? He looked around cautiously. To both his left and right there were students from Hogwarts. They were all levitating too, looking just as confused as he probably looked. He noticed with some interest that they were all from his house, Slytherin. So this was a Junior Death Eater meeting. These meetings were just preparation for the new school year—cover stories and assignments. It really was the junior version of a Death Eater meeting. The Inner Circle meetings were so much more. They were for the adults and Draco only got in because his father was the Dark Lord's main supporter. The revels were the worst though. Anyone with impure blood that the Death Eaters could find was tortured and executed there. One family was always absent from these meetings, and he idly pondered the reason for it. The Zabini's were never bothered to fight or even to come to the meetings. Draco only knew that they gave extremely generous amounts of money to the cause. That was probably what kept them out of this, but as Draco looked to his right again, he saw his best and only friend Blaise. Draco recognized the significance of this and stiffened.

Ginerva scanned the room quickly, her eyes darting to each one of the suspended witches and wizards. When she got to Draco, she stopped and smirked. She continued on, her eyes resting on his best friend. She raised an eyebrow at seeing him there. Ginerva shifted her body towards the Dark Lord and spoke.

"Draco and Blaise," she said shortly. Draco and Blaise what? He locked eyes with the only other person in the room to share his fate. Blaise only shrugged, having no more idea what was going on than Draco did.

"Good choice," the Dark Lord sneered, "Everyone else is to forget this ever happened. If I should hear any of you speak of this to anyone who is not a Death Eater, you and your families shall be killed. You will treat Ginerva with the utmost respect when not amongst the company of any member of another house. You may ignore or insult her when she is with a member of the Gryffindor house. When in the privacy of your common room, or when you are in the company of friends, you have permission to speak freely in front of her. You will listen to what she says and support her decisions. Is that clear?"

A chorus of, "Yes, my lord," filled the room, seemingly pleasing their leader.

"You may all go now," he waved his hand. It was like a string snapped. Everyone dropped to the floor. "Except Draco and Blaise. You will stay with Ginerva and myself." Draco and Blaise walked up to him slowly, glancing at each other warily. "Well, you two are very lucky. You will be guards and assistants to Ginerva this year. She will be coming and going from the Slytherin common room, so you are responsible for giving her the password. You will be her link with me, communicating her messages in whatever way you can. She would like to be treated no differently in front of the rest of the school, especially Potter and his friends, but alone, she demands respect. Is that understood?"

"Of course," Blaise replied smoothly.

"May I ask you a question my Lord?" Draco asked reverently. The Dark Lord nodded in response, seemingly impatient. Draco rushed to ask his question. "What is going on? She was supposed to be the next member of the Golden Trio, Potter's group…"

"My dear Ginerva has had a change of heart. She is going to spy for us." If Blaise was taken by surprise, he didn't show it. He kept his face neutral, but Draco didn't know if he had enough tact for that. "You leave for platform nine and three-quarters in less than one hour. I wouldn't want you to start off your new assignment badly, so I shall not keep you any longer."

They nodded stonily and began walking away. When they realized Ginerva was not behind them, they paused and turned back. She was talking in earnest to the Dark Lord. When she was done, he rested a bony hand on her shoulder. "Goodbye Ginerva, I will see you soon."

"Please tell Bellatrix I said goodbye as well. I didn't get a chance to. Tell her that I will contact her soon." He nodded and his red eyes seemed a little less daunting. She strode over to where Blaise and Draco were waiting for her.

"It's time to go."

**Ok, honest truth. Did you like it? I think in the next chapter we will see the Golden Trio, which is always entertaining. I was thinking that Blaise could be friendlier to Ginny in the beginning and have Draco still questioning Voldemort's orders. I'm very excited to have Bellatrix in this story because she's always fun to write. We will definitely be seeing her later on. Thoughts and comments are appreciated! I do take input from my readers, but I'm not going to know what you want from this story until you tell me. The earlier you tell me, the earlier I can start incorporating it into the story! REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters are not mine. If they were, I would be J.K Rowling. I am not J.K. Rowling or I would be the richest woman in England. Only the plot is mine.**

**Thanks you guys for reviewing and I certainly expect more!**

_Flashback_

"_Alright, close your eyes and concentrate." Bellatrix said dangerously, her frustration evident. In front of her, a white feather rose steadily in the air._

"_Yes!" Ginny cried happily. She had been working on this for hours, and now she finally had mastered the most basic spell in the book. The feather wavered in the air and fell to the ground, catching on fire midway down. Even the most basic spells were daunting tasks when experimenting with wandless, wordless magic._

"_NO!" Bellatrix shouted as Ginny screamed. She quickly doused the fire with a spell from her wand. "Never break your concentration. Even the most basic spells can go drastically wrong if you're not thinking solely of the spell you want to do." She stood up quickly, putting her hand on her head as if she had a headache. "Never lose your concentration. I wouldn't expect someone with your heritage to understand," she snarled._

"_Back to insulting my family again, Bellatrix? And here I was thinking we were past that," Ginny quipped._ _Bellatrix was right though. She __had lost her concentration. Ginny let out a sigh of frustration. She had lost it when she realized the spell was working. At least she had Bella as a teacher and not Lucius. She had been told that he was a nightmare to train with._

"_You are nowhere near where you should be at this point in your training! We are trying to change you from innocent Ginny to powerful Ginerva. The way you're going, you'll still be Ginny when school starts. You will never be the regal, confident woman that the Dark Lord assures me is there! But then again, maybe the Dark Lord is wrong. Maybe there is nothing there other than a selfish little girl who switched sides for the thrill of it all!"_

_Ginny's face contorted into a mask of rage and she made eye contact with Bellatrix. Crucio, she whispered in her head. Bellatrix fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Ginny was astonished. She quickly looked away and the spell stopped. Bellatrix lifted herself off the ground and smiled._

"_Now that's what happens when you concentrate."_

_End Flashback_

"Here we are. Platform 9 and ¾, ma'am." Ginerva snorted at Blaise's chivalry. She was walking toward the train with them in tow. They were at a respectable distance, so as not to arouse suspicion. She spotted several people she knew, but they paid her no mind. She strolled along looking at all of the happy families. They were so oblivious. There was a war going on, and here they were, carping about not seeing their child for a few months. If the war was won by the Death Eaters, some of these families would never see their children again. She smirked at the thought. Some of the Death Eaters and their children nodded her way, but others ignored her, probably because the platform was much too public for such a display of familiarity. In the distance, Ginerva spotted Sylvia running towards her.

"Don't follow me. I'll check in with you at least once before we get to Hogwarts," she said shortly and turned on her heel to meet Sylvia.

The boys looked at each other and shrugged, "Girls," Blaise mouthed as if it was the only answer to the ultimate question. The boys soon met up with a group of Slytherins who demanded to know about the meeting.

"GINNY!" Sylvia shrieked in a way that had always sounded like nails on a chalkboard to Ginerva. She had never really been fond of Sylvia, but she had served her purpose this summer.

"SYLVIA!" Ginerva cried in her best imitation of the annoying girl.

"Ginny I missed you so much! Who's this mysterious boyfriend you have?" the hyperactive witch asked.

Ginerva drew a blank. "Erm...oh yeah, he wants to keep it a secret. So I really can't tell you right now, but soon."

Sylvia gave her a skeptical look. "Alright then. Whatever you say. It's not like I deserve it, telling everyone you spent the summer with me so you wouldn't get caught spending it with him."

"I know, and thanks for that by the way, but I'm still not going to tell you." If Sylvia questioned her too much, Ginerva could probably just obliviate her. It might even help her, she was so brain dead anyway.

"We should go meet up with your parents and let them see that we 'spent the summer together,'" she put up air quotes.

"Probably," Ginerva said, her mind wandering. She wondered if she could cause trouble right now—smack a poor first year in the head with his books, even torture someone. She doubted anyone would guess it was her. She might even have a little fun with it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dean Thomas walking towards her.

When he arrived, he gave her his best sexy smirk, which Ginerva found disgusting. "Hey baby, looking good," he drawled, smacking her ass as he walked by. She suppressed a smiled at finding the perfect victim.

"Is that the boyfriend you spent the summer with? The one you made ME cover for?" Sylvia shook her head repugnantly.

"No he's not. What a git. He'll get what's coming to him soon enough. Let's go find my parents." Ginerva took Sylvia by the elbow and steered her to find her rather large family.

"Ginny dear, I can't believe how much you've grown. It seems like just last year that you were getting on the train for the first time," her mother gushed when they finally found her.

"Mum, you're embarrassing me," she said with mock annoyance. "Where are Harry, Ron and Hermione? I want to say hello."

"Over there. Please don't take too long, the train will be leaving soon. We wouldn't want a repeat of Ronald's second year…" her mother said, oblivious to the fact that Ginerva was already walking away.

She walked up to the group. They seemed to be deep in conversation, or at least the two boys did, but Hermione just looked bored. If Ginerva were anyone else, she would have thought that they were doing last minute plotting against the Dark Lord or some other heroic nonsense. Fortunately, she was not anybody else and she knew it was safe to walk up to them.

"And did you see that last goal? Totally wicked…Oh hello Ginny," Harry said after he finally noticed her. "How was your summer with Sylvia?"

"Hi Harry, my summer was great. We swam in her pool, went shopping, and did all kinds of stuff. I got a lot of new clothes," Ginerva said as if she were actually happy to see him.

"Yeah, about that…you, erm, look really nice…" Harry stammered as Ron looked at him incredulously.

"Harry! Don't say that about my sister, she's just a kid!" Ginerva felt her face going hot and the need to curse someone arose stronger than ever.

"Well I think I'll be going now. Lots of people to see, boys to snog. You know the deal, right Ron?" She turned and walked away, leaving him gaping at her. She smiled. This was going to be a good year, things were going to change.

She looked over and saw Dean standing nonchalantly against the thick brick wall and she smiled again. He saw her staring and he winked devilishly. She concentrated hard and channeled all of her anger into the forefront of her mind. She thought of him smacking her ass, of his grimy hands all over her body. She looked into his eyes. _Crucio._

_Flashback_

_"Good morning students, my name is Ms. Bellatrix, but you can call me Bella. I am going to be your teacher until you graduate, or until the principal Lord Voldemort sees fit to expel you," Bellatrix said, mocking her._

_Ginny looked around quickly. There was no one else in the room. She idly wondered how many people Bellatrix had killed, maimed and tortured. She suddenly realized something, when Bellatrix said expel she meant something far more sinister._

"_The Dark Lord told you why you are here," Bellatrix presumed. Ginny nodded. "Then you know that I have been instructed to train you in the Dark Arts, as well as in the talent of wandless, wordless magic. I have never done this before, but I'm sure it will prove…quite enjoyable. Let's start at the end. I'm going to cast a Crucio at you and you are going to block it wandlessly and wordlessly in 3…2…1… Crucio!" she shouted gleefully. Bellatrix didn't even give her time to react._

_Ginny supposed that it made sense to do the hardest things first so that she would have the maximum amount of time to acquire the skills it took. The Dark Lord had already warned her about Bellatrix's tendency to do whatever she wanted in whatever order she wanted as long as the outcome was the same. He told her to expect the torture, but she was not ready for the intensity of the cruciatus curse. The pain ripped through her entire body, tore through every fiber of her being. She knew screaming would do no good, so she didn't. She was determined not to scream, to make Bellatrix angry. She laid on the hard, cold ground, tears streaming down her face, clamping her mouth shut. Then she felt relief, blissful relief. She stood up on shaky legs, giving her teacher the best brave face she could muster._

"_Once more then? Crucio!"_

_Once again, Ginny did not scream, just withered in pain. The curse was lifted much sooner than she expected._

"_Concentrate on the countercurse. Let it fill you to your core. Clear your mind of all other thoughts. Practice that tonight when you go back to your room." Ginny nodded curtly and stormed out. "Maybe next time I'll use a different approach."_

_End Flashback_

She jerked herself out of her reverie and realized she was smirking. She quickly adjusted her facial expression to an expression of horror. Dean was screaming on the floor in pain and moving around erratically like it would help. Many Order members had congregated around him, desperately muttering countercurses. Several more had taken to searching the crowd for Death Eaters who looked suspicious. And a few were even ushering people onto the train to disperse the crowd. Ginerva decided that the torture had gone on long enough and broke the connection. He ceased his screaming and curled up into a ball, sobbing uncontrollably. His pain was like a drug and she was reveling in it. It was like a brand of that muggle drug ecstasy and she was feeling the high. She looked around quickly and made her escape to the train.

She walked through the long hallway of the train, looking through each of the compartments. She spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione in one and went in.

"I can't believe they made us leave, I mean he was being tortured. We could have helped!" Harry was ranting again. "I mean we are the people who are supposed to save the world." How conceded he was. He was not the one that was supposed to save the world, he would only die trying. It was foolish to think that he would live and the Dark Lord would die. He was just a boy after all, a boy whose powers in no way matched her master's.

"Oh, well they let me stay," she decided to taunt him, even if she had to seem innocent while doing it.

"Shut up Ginny, can't you see that we are having an important discussion here?" Ron said angrily. She was so mistreated by them. They didn't care about her feelings or even what happened to her. Only when she was in danger of dying or killing people as the heir of Slytherin did they actually pay her any mind.

"Fine then, I'll just find somewhere else to sit. It's not like you three are the only friends I have," she pretended to be insulted.

"Gin, you don't have to leave," Harry started.

"Apparently your best mate here thinks that I am not good enough to waste time talking to, so I will see you all at dinner."

She wandered the train aimlessly for a while, looking for the people she knew. Soon enough, she came upon a green and silver compartment with the shades drawn. Though she couldn't see inside, she knew of only a handful of people that would actually care enough to transfigure their compartment to their house colors. Well, if she was wrong, she could just walk out with no questions asked. It didn't matter what she did or how she embarrassed herself. They were still going to respect her no matter what, and they wouldn't dare try to cross her. She opened the door slowly and looked around. Sure enough, Draco and Blaise were talking rapidly in another language.

"Que croyez-vous que son affaire est?" Draco asked. (What is her deal?)

"Je ne sais pas. Puisque nous sommes ses gardes du corps, peut-être nous devrions demander," Blaise answered fluidly. (I don't know. Maybe since we are her bodyguards, we should ask.)

They looked up at her when she entered. Little did they know that last summer she had been in France with Sylvia and had learned the language. They were obviously talking about her.

"Ginerva, please come in."

"What did you want to ask me?" They looked at her, dumbfounded. "It's a beautiful language. I learned it last summer when I went to France. When did you learn it?" she asked good-naturedly.

"We were forced to take French classes as children," Blaise answered for the both of them. "And as for the other question, we wanted to know why you switched sides."

_Flashback_

"_Mum, I'm ready to go to Sylvia's now," Ginny called up several flights of stairs to her mother. She had her trunk packed with everything she might need. Clothes, personal items, things from the joke shop that might be useful. They were all there._

_"I'm coming dear. Just give me a moment," Molly came running down the stairs, almost tripping on one of Fred and George's traps. "Alright, grab my arm and here we go." Ginny felt that sickening feeling that went with disapparating, and then she felt her feet hit solid ground again. They were on Sylvia's front porch. Ginny's mother had already recovered and was ringing the doorbell._

_Sylvia answered the door. "Hello Mrs. Weasley. Hey Ginny! Are you ready for some serious summer fun? My parents will be home after work and then we can run up to the muggle dairy queen. It will be awesome!"_

_"Totally," Ginny answered in a voice that was sweeter than chocolate. "Thanks for dropping me off, Mum."_

_"No problem, sweetie. I have to go check on dinner but I'll see you soon. I love you."_

_"Bye, Mum," she said and shut the door._

_"Okay Ginny, so what's the plan again?" Sylvia asked as soon as they were up in her room._

_"In about five minutes, a friend of my boyfriend is going to come by floo to get me. You can't be there though, because that would spoil the surprise. I'll leave for the summer and then I'll meet you at the train station and we can pretend we just spent the best summer ever together."_

_"It could work, but I don't get all of the secrets, especially from me."_

_"We just don't want it getting out because my entire family would freak out." They heard the sound of a floo downstairs. "Well that's my cue. Thanks for this."_

_"No problem, just don't forget to write."_

_Ginny walked down the stairs cautiously. There was no telling who the Dark Lord would send to pick her up. Lucky for her it was someone she knew. Severus Snape. Most teenagers associated him with detention, darkness, and even death—and of course, potions. He had an aura about him that made every person in the room respect him._

_"Good evening, Professor," she inclined her head towards him in a slight nod._

_"Ginerva, how lovely to see you again," he responded in a bored tone. "Shall we be going?"_

_End Flashback_

"I just did," she responded harshly. The train jerked, signaling the start of the trip. "We'll be at Hogwarts soon enough." She sat back in the seat next to Blaise with a look of satisfaction on her face.

**Que croyez-vous que son affaire est?-(What is her deal?)**

**"Je ne sais pas. Puisque nous sommes ses gardes du corps, peut-être nous devrions demander,"-(I don't know. Maybe since we are her bodyguards, we should ask.)**

**I'm sorry that there were a lot of flashbacks in this chapter, I just decided that I should probably do some explaining. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, therefore I am not making any money from this story.**

**Note: As you may have noticed, the flashbacks are not in chronological order. And, obviously, certain events of the sixth book never happened. Like Dumbledore dying. Because he's definitely still alive in this story.**

**Yes, it's been a long time. Inspiration has struck! I had a lot of plans for this story before, but I'm finally beginning to plan out the subplots that will occur inside the main one. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at where I will take this story.**

**As I have said before (especially on my other works), what YOU want out of this story influences how I write it. While I know how I would like it to go, I will ALWAYS listen to what you have to say. Some of the most helpful advice has come from reviewers :) And a lot of them had their ideas incorporated into the story!**

**So, without further ado…here we go!**

"You know, I _am _Head Boy this year, and I hear that comes with certain privileges. A private dorm for example," Draco bragged.

"A private dorm that you will have to share with the Head Girl," Ginerva corrected.

"With my luck, it will probably be that mudblood Granger," Draco growled.

"So that means that we can't meet in there. The Room of Requirement perhaps?" Blaise questioned.

Ginerva considered it. Unplottable, even by the Marauder's Map. It could transform into anything they wanted, and it was nowhere near the dungeons. If Ginerva was spotted walking around the dungeons by someone unfaithful to the Dark Lord, it could blow her cover. She nodded. The Room of Requirement was their best option.

"I should probably go meet up with the new Head Girl in the Head's compartment. I pray that it is not Granger. I am sure I will be driven mad if we have to share a dorm this year," Draco complained, moving toward the door.

"And all she does is study. You might just get infected with her disease," Ginerva mocked. "You can't fool me, Malfoy. I happen to know that you are second in your class to Hermione. A very close second."

"It is not her studying disease that I am worried about. It is the disease that is her blood. Her non-magical background is a curse, and one that I want absolutely nothing to do with. Despite her surprising intelligence, she is still inferior to all of us," Draco stated shortly, his articulation perfect, as always. Ginerva idly wondered if perfect pronunciation was something that was taught to all pureblood children. She looked at Blaise and decided that it was probably only a Malfoy trait. His father had it too. Blaise used contractions, while still sounding sophisticated enough to pass for being a member of the upper class.

"Don't you have somewhere to be, Draco?" Blaise reminded him. Draco turned towards the door, opened it, and walked into the corridor. "He doesn't trust you," Blaise explained.

"Do you blame him?" Ginerva fired back.

"I don't question the Dark Lord's orders," he replied carefully, "but I will admit that he is not omnipotent, nor is he always right. I am not enough of a fool to believe that he is a god, but I do believe that he is powerful. He can make mistakes. Has he made a mistake in choosing you to be a spy for us?"

"That remains to be seen, I suppose," she replied, a small smile gracing her lips.

_Flashback_

"_You cannot just ignore this, Bellatrix. Sooner or later, we will need to—"_

"_I am busy, Severus. Could you find another time to—" she paused a beat when she saw Ginny rounding the corner, "—bore me with the details of your potion making?" Bellatrix snarled._

_Bellatrix grabbed her arm and dragged the younger witch in the direction in which she had just come. She looked at over Bellatrix's shoulder at Snape, who looked even more irritated than the insane murderer walking beside her. Ginny sent him a questioning look, which he acknowledged with a slight shake of his head. She resolved to ask him about it later. Right now, Bellatrix was demanding her undivided attention. Ginny felt her arm go numb under Bellatrix's fingers as she pulled them both into a training room._

_Ginny knew not to speak to Bellatrix when she was in one of her moods. That would just make her punishment worse. This was not new to her. Whenever the older woman was in a foul state of mind, Ginny would be in for a few rounds of very physical dueling. She would be subject to the anger of one of the most dangerous members of the wizarding community. There was nothing she could do about it, so she braced herself for the first curse._

_Ginny blocked the Cruciatus with a weak shield charm. Bellatrix fired off another one, which Ginny sidestepped. Curse after curse was fired from her wand, with Ginny barely managing to avoid them all. A particularly nasty hex whizzed past her head, and she realized that she might not make it out of the duel alive._

_Ginny looked around quickly, assessing her surroundings. She saw nothing that might help her disarm Bellatrix. _

_She was distracted from the duel by the sole door in the room opening. Lucius Malfoy stepped into the chamber, closing the door behind him. She kicked herself for becoming unfocused in the midst of a duel, but she looked over at Bellatrix and realized that the other witch was sidetracked as well. _

_Ginny raised her wand and fired a Cruciatus at Bellatrix. The younger woman watched in amazement as the curse hit her teacher square in the chest, knocking her backwards and slamming her into the far wall of the room. Bellatrix writhed in pain on the floor, but she never made a noise. Bellatrix never screamed—unless, of course, the Dark Lord asked for it. It was something that she was proud of. She could control herself to not cry out even when she was in the most agonizing pain. It was a control that she and Ginny had in common. Ginny lifted the curse, and Bellatrix immediately stood up, straightening her robes. Lucius huffed in incredulity while Bellatrix rounded on Ginny._

"_You little bitch. If you weren't the Dark Lord's favorite, I would rip you to pieces! How dare you use a curse like that on your better?"_

"_Yes, Bellatrix. My parents are blood traitors, I am a little girl, and I am not nearly where I need to be in my training right now. Are we done? I could use some lunch," Ginny quipped. "We are not the good guys, Bellatrix. I was correct to do what I did. If your distraction meant the difference between life and death for me, I was perfectly in my own right to fire off that curse."_

"_And frankly, if you were distracted enough to let that poorly aimed curse hit you, maybe you are not one of the best duelers in the world. Letting a little girl get the drop on you," Lucius sneered in disbelief, "absolutely disgraceful. Not befitting of a pureblood. Especially of your status." Bellatrix started to protest, but Lucius cut her off. "The Dark Lord would like to see you at your nearest convenience, Bella," he drawled, then strode out of the room, his robes billowing in a fashion that reminded her all too much of Severus._

"_You know that the Dark Lord doesn't like to be kept waiting—"_

"_You cunt, who taught you that? Hmmm? I taught you how to read His moods and decipher His codes months ago. Don't you dare tell me what I already know!" Bellatrix nearly screamed at Ginny._

"_You're just upset that I defeated you in front of Lucius," she challenged._

_Bellatrix looked ready to fight again, but instead squared her shoulders as she walked toward the door. "Maybe when the Dark Lord isn't waiting for me, blood traitor." _

"_Wait!" Ginny yelled, catching up to her. The redhead pointed her wand and muttered a spell, looking Bellatrix up and down. When she was done, all traces of their fight had been erased. The sweat on her face, the wrinkles in her robes, all gone._

_Bellatrix merely sneered and walked away. Ginny was not expecting an expression of gratitude. In fact, she was expecting a swift rebuttal and another screaming match to ensue, but the fact that it did not proved that Bellatrix was not as displeased with Ginny's continued existence as she appeared to be._

_She had no idea why she was helping Bellatrix. Maybe she had the same weakness for the mad witch that their Master did. There was a reason she was still in the Dark Lord's favor, after all. Who didn't appreciate a little chaos?_

_End Flashback_

"I could be a spy for the Order for all you know," Ginerva said mysteriously. "I'm going to go find Potter and his friends."

Ginerva opened the door and walked into the hallway of the train. She passed many people she knew, but again, they ignored her. Did they not remember her? Or were they too preoccupied with their own problems to even notice she was there? She continued walking down the long hallway, lost in thought, but still completely aware of her surroundings. She noticed her snarky potions professor walking toward her with a nasty glare on his face. As Snape passed her, he drew back his shoulder and rammed it into her.

"Ms. Weasely! Please do have the decency to watch where you are going," he straightened his robes and scoffed in his usual bored tone. She sent him a questioning look, making it just bold enough so that he would notice it, but not nearly obvious enough for anyone else to. Snape simply raised an eyebrow at her. To the other students, it may have seemed like a challenge, but Ginerva knew what it was.

"But Professor, you bumped into me!" Ginerva fired back, showing some of the Weasely temper that usually got her into trouble. Normally, she would have brushed Snape off and continued on her way, but Severus had sent her an open invitation to fight him. This would solidify her cover as the innocent schoolgirl who hated all Slytherins as well as give him an excellent reason to make up a meeting time. And of course, he always loved to test out her acting skills.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor for mouthing off to a teacher. And detention tomorrow night at eight o'clock in my office. Am I understood?"

Ginerva pretended to be ready to protest, but instead, she let tears fill her eyes and whispered, "Yes, Professor Snape."

He walked away, muttering something about foolish Gryffindors losing house points before the train had even made it to Hogwarts. She turned and stormed toward the compartment she knew the Golden Trio would be inhabiting, stomping her feet in a show of childishness. She found their compartment—it really wasn't hard to look for the one with all of the silencing and secrecy charms. They were supposed to be the saviors of the world, couldn't they at least learn the art of subtlety? She could detect their spells from at least ten feet away!

She opened the door. When they saw her, they deactivated the charms and motioned for her to sit down. "Snape just gave me detention for tomorrow! I mean, can you believe that git? He bumps into me, and then has the guts to deduct house points and give me detention. Bloody hell, you'd think he has it in for me!" she ranted.

"Wait, Gin, you lost house points for us already?" Ron asked, incredulity present in his voice.

"Didn't you hear me, Ronald? _He _bumped into _me_, not the other way around! You're ridiculous!"

"Ron, just let it go! It's not her fault. You know how Snape is," Harry said when Ron looked ready to fight back.

Ginerva folded her arms over her chest and pretended to be cross with her brother. In reality, she didn't care. She had accomplished her goal for the day. She set up a meeting with Snape and started a fight within the Golden Trio. As far as she was concerned, today was a success. The four teenagers talked in stilted conversations for the rest of the trip to Hogwarts. 

After the first years had been sorted, the students began to eat. Conversation was still awkward between Harry and Ron with Hermione trying to play the role of peacemaker. Ginerva said very little but kept her eyes open for any new relationships. Friendships, arguments, alliances and even crushes could be useful to her. As a spy, it was her job to know everything, and she had learned early on that spotting the weaknesses of others was one of the most important things a double agent could do.

She had forgotten how annoying it was to be with people that lacked any sense of restraint. Every emotion that ran through their minds was plastered on their faces for all to see.

They were so carefree. The war raging on outside the walls of Hogwarts did not concern them. Quidditch and NEWTs were the talk of the Gryffindor table. Ginerva could not believe that she used to want to befriend these imbeciles.

When all of the students had consumed enough of the house elves' excellent cooking, Dumbledore stood up to make his customary speech. "Good evening, students. Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. It is very agreeable to see you all again.

"Outside of these walls, there is a storm brewing. I must urge you not to bring that turmoil within the walls of our great school. Doing so will make this year perilous, as well as unnecessarily difficult. These are dangerous times, and I desire your safety. That is why I must request that you stay out of the Forbidden Forest, as always. Many of Lord Voldemort's supporters may be lurking near the outskirts of the wards that protect us.

"This is a year of many changes. We are getting older—this is merely a fact of life. For some of you, this is your last year at Hogwarts. For others, this is your first. I hope you all are comfortable with these changes, and I hope you will embrace them. I'm glad you are here, and I hope that this year is at least as good as your last. Now, off to bed." Dumbledore clapped his hands merrily.

As the student population was rising, she subtly inclined her head at Blaise and Draco, indicating that she wished to have a meeting with them later. She caught Snape's eye and scowled, conveying her distaste at being forced to spend time with such dense Gryffindors. To anyone else, this would look like her glaring at the hated potions professor for giving her a detention before the start of term. To them, it was a sign of her exasperation. He smirked back knowingly.

Ginerva passed through the doors to the Great Hall with the rest of the students. Instead of continuing up to Gryffindor Tower with the rest of her house, she exited the stairs on the seventh floor. She wandered around for a while, pretending to be engrossed in the artwork hanging on the walls for the benefit of any passerby who might glance in her direction.

Was that tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach trolls ballet still there? She snorted. Obviously, whoever chose the artwork to be hung had never spent much time in Malfoy Manor.

She used this time to alter herself from harmless girl to graceful spy. She straightened her shoulders, fixed her posture, and schooled her expression into one that she had unapologetically copied from Narcissa Malfoy.

When she arrived at the Room of Requirement, Draco and Blaise were already there. The room was decorated in Slytherin colors. The furniture was expensive, yet still aesthetically pleasing. It was obviously the sophisticated taste of a Malfoy. So Draco designed the room then? She found that she liked it.

She sat down on one of the comfortable leather couches. They stared at her expectantly.

Ginerva sighed. "Dumbledore believes that this year will be better than last year. He obviously has no idea what the Dark Lord is planning. That is a good thing. It means we can take him by surprise."

"So what is the plan?" Blaise asked curiously.

"You will know when the time comes," she avoided.

"When the time comes…" Draco echoed, his irritation mounting. He was to sacrifice his life for a plan that he knew nothing about. This both irked and scared him. How was he supposed to do his job?

"Yes, when the time comes," she said shortly.

"Bloody hell, this is insane," Draco muttered to himself.

"It's not insane, Malfoy. You have your orders from our Lord, now I expect you to follow them."

"You actually expect us to follow you without question? You, a Gryffindor traitor that has betrayed her friends seemingly without a second thought? No, thank you. Ginny, Ginerva, whatever the hell you want to be called, I support the Dark Lord but I don't trust you. Never you. This came out of nowhere and I refuse to be caught off guard by you betraying yet another side," Draco said forcefully. She was infuriating. Beautiful and obviously very powerful, but infuriating.

"The Dark Lord himself trusts me. You may support our Lord, but do you doubt his intelligence? Rest assured, Malfoy, his faith in me is warranted. I have swayed over the Dark Lord, Bellatrix Lestrange, Severus Snape, and even your parents. Do you really think all of these powerful men and women to be mistaken? Your own father trusts me, Draco. Do you want to disappoint your father?"

Blaise merely raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing. Draco's face turned various shades of red. Ginerva watched with fascination as it turned from extremely pale to beet red in a matter of seconds.

His friend saw the impending explosion and nudged him gently, reminding him where he was and who he was with. Draco took a breath and exhaled slowly, his usually impeccable Malfoy control returning.

Blaise studied Draco for a moment. From the moment Malfoys are born, the concept of self-control is hammered into their heads. Lucius Malfoy's composure never slipped in public, not once. His regal stance and rigid posture were legendary among other pureblood families. What went on behind the scenes, however, was quite a different story.

What was it about this girl that broke Draco's control? Blaise had only seen him lose it twice in his whole life. Once, his mother succumbed to a disease that had her bedridden for days. The family healer could not diagnose her. Draco had sat by her bed for hours on end, and when Blaise walked in the room to offer support, he had seen a single tear slide down his pale cheek.

Of course Narcissa recovered, no thanks to Professor Snape's brilliant mind and quick brewing. He deduced that a new dark object from Lord Malfoy's office had begun misbehaving. It began secreting a poison that she had breathed in while looking for some paperwork in her husband's drawers.

Needless to say, the object was taken by Snape and promptly destroyed. As far as Blaise knew, Malfoy Senior had no idea that his wife was even sick. He was also caught by surprise when his new purchase mysteriously vanished.

The second time was only a few weeks ago. Lucius Malfoy had gone on a rant so loud that it could be heard in Draco's bedroom, where he and Blaise were both residing. Malfoy had gone downstairs to see if his father required assistance. What he heard brought Draco to the brink.

His father was cursing the earth, the heavens and everything in between. The Dark Lord was not gaining power rapidly enough. The mudbloods were becoming smart and going into hiding. Narcissa had been slowly drawing away from him. Severus had been avoiding him lately. His only son was showing little interest in becoming a servant to his Master. Maybe if he had been a little stricter with his family they wouldn't be defying him now. Maybe Narcissa just needed to be taught a lesson about attending to her husband…

The attacks became more personal by the minute. Draco could easily listen to his father yell for hours about the state of affairs in the world and in Voldemort's army. But when Master Malfoy began screaming at the top of his lungs like a raving lunatic about Narcissa, a crashing sound was heard and Draco returned to his room shortly after.

His face was as beet red as it was now, and Draco refused to talk about what happened. Blaise had reluctantly dropped the matter. He knew as well as Draco did that his father was losing his control. Apparently, events like these were commonplace. Unfortunately, this one hit too close to home for the Malfoy heir to dismiss.

Blaise sighed. Something about this beautiful woman was shattering Draco's self-control. He would have to keep an eye on his best friend, should this trend continue.

While Draco was acquiring control of his face, Ginerva also thought about the boy. She had seen his father snap on more than one occasion. The boy was different though. He had a quieter anger. While Lucius would explode and shoot curses at anything that moved, Draco was slower to act. But both Malfoys shared the same trait: they never forgot, and they could hold one hell of a grudge.

She did not mean to question his reluctance to disappoint his father. Truth be told, it had slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it. She knew Draco's devotion to his father had been at an all time high last year. She also knew that this summer had changed things between them. Severus had implied the nature of their newly strained relationship several times. And he would know—he was Draco's godfather, after all.

Ginerva inwardly cringed. This would not help their working relationship at all. But she did not need her new partners questioning her loyalties. After all she had done this summer to prove her worth and faithfulness to the cause, there were still disbelievers.

She couldn't blame them, though. They had not known about her involvement until today. She could not expect them to change their opinions of her overnight. Though Blaise was doing a remarkable job at being accepting…

Something about Draco infuriated her. Maybe it was his handsomeness that threw her off guard. She couldn't let it affect her mission.

She apologized. "I didn't come here to anger you. I only wish to tell you that I will require the services of Theodore Nott. Please tell him to meet me after dinner tomorrow night in the unused charms classroom on the fourth floor. Thank you for your time."

With a final glance at the flabbergasted Draco and the curious Blaise, she walked out of the room.

On her way back to Gryffindor Tower, she composed herself. It would harm her image as meek Ginny Weasley to be seen with so much power openly flying around her. She reigned in her magic and stepped into the Common Room.

There were many people still awake, but only one with their attention centered completely on the portrait.

Sylvia ran up to her. "Ginny, we need to talk." With protests from Ginerva, the annoying chit of a girl dragged her up to their room. This was the last thing she needed. She had much more important things to concentrate on.

"So, you spend the summer with this secret boyfriend of yours, and now on the first day back, you're sneaking out to see him again. What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing. Just let it go, Sylvia."

"Fine. For now. But I'm going to do everything in my power to find out who this boy is. This isn't healthy for you, Gin."

Ginerva just rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. Sylvia was becoming far too suspicious.

She would have to deal with her. Soon.

**Remember, reviews are appreciated and needed. Remember, YOU can have input as to how the story goes! I love each and every one of my reviewers, for they are the reason I write.**


End file.
